Judge Orders Joe Miller to Pay Legal Fees from Election Challenge

An Alaska judge has ordered that failed U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller pay almost $18,000 in legal fees incurred by the state in fighting Miller’s challenge to last year’s election.

But Judge William Carey said Miller won’t have to pay legal bills for his rival, Senator Lisa Murkowski.

In the order, issued today, Carey said the main thrust of Miller’s challenge to the election was not, in his view, to promote and preserve constitutional protections but rather to win an election – and to get the benefits that come with that.

Miller sued over the state’s handling of the election and counting of votes for Murkowski, who ran as a write-in after losing the GOP primary to Miller.